The dehydrative mono-/dialkylation
reactions of alcohols and β-ketoacids
were realized under arylboronic acid catalysis, furnishing a series
of β-aryl ketones and β-ketoesters in yields of 15–99%,
with CO2 and H2O being the byproducts. In this
context, the decarboxylative alkylation reaction occurred to give
β-aryl ketones at 50 °C, while the decarboxylation was
suppressed to generate dialkylated ester products at 0 °C. A
possible catalytic cycle was proposed based on control experiments.